Page 71 of Married With Lies

The mafia order of inheritance probably isn’t quite the same but it’s clear Richie Amato keeps his family close and has expectations. I get the impression Cale doesn’t want his brother to get trapped by Richie’s expectations.

“I can take those off your hands,” Luca says, pointing to the sausages on my plate.

I glance down the table to make sure Donna Amato isn’t looking. She’s busy talking to one of her daughters.

“Thanks,” I whisper and slide them over to Luca’s place with a shudder. “I’m not a meat eater.”

“I won’t hold it against you,” Luca jokes and cuts a sausage in half. “But look away if bad table manners offend you.”

“Appreciate the warning.” I squeeze Cale’s hand to bring him back from his brooding.

Cale finally turns to me. “What time should I drive you out there?”

“I’m in no hurry. We can go whenever you’re ready.”

Tomorrow night Hadley’s wedding will be at the Hamptons beach house belonging to the groom’s family. I’ve caught a lot of grief from my sister for failing to be at her beck and call since my plane landed. The rest of the bridal party is already at the Hamptons house. Hadley is already mad so at this point it probably doesn’t matter what time I show up. Anyway, the less time I spend in a room with my she-devil of a sister, the less tempted I’ll be to rip her hair out at the roots.

“Can I take a ride with you guys?” Luca says and wipes his mouth with a red linen napkin. He eats fast. The offensive sausages are all gone.

“Fine by me,” I say and look for Cale’s nod of confirmation.

Luca downs the rest of his wine with one swallow and sets his glass down. He nudges my arm with a grin. “Just warn me when to hide my eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you two lovebirds. But I did just eat.”

That’s right. As far as Luca knows, Cale and I have a real marriage. I’ll have to mind my words in the car so he doesn’t catch on.

The lies do tend to pile up on each other.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

Donna will not allow any of us to help carry the dishes to the kitchen. I feel a little bad when she wraps me in a sincere hug and says how happy she is that her nephew has found true love. Then Richie Amato presses a slimy kiss to my cheek and orders me to give my father his regards.

Despite the hospitality inside the house, I’m relieved to get out of there. Upon arriving, I glimpsed a pair of big men with unfriendly faces posted outside the house. They acknowledged Cale and he steered me right past them with no introduction.

Now we run into them again as we leave and a third man has joined their party. Though I grew up accustomed to seeing my father’s security team hanging around, the vibe surrounding Richie Amato feels different.

Cale opens the passenger door to his car and waits for me to get settled with the seatbelt clicked before shutting it. Luca dives into the backseat and starts sharing the dating advice he once received from his older brother.

“It was the summer after sophomore year of high school and I was working as a counselor at Camp Battleax in the Catskills. Janie Frank was the head counselor. She was two years older. Harvard bound. Extremely responsible and organized. No matter how hard I tried to get her attention she thought I was a clown. With only one week left of camp I called Cale in a panic and asked him how to get this girl to give me the time of day. And he said, ‘If she’s really worth your time then she’ll appreciate the direct approach. You should tell her she’s the one you want.’ That’s exactly what I did.”

“And did it work?” I ask as Cale drives past my father’s estate. Though the hedge foliage lining the fences is thick this time of year, I can see a number of lights are on in the house. My father never asked when I’d be flying in for the wedding. Neither did Baylor.

“It did not work,” Luca replies with a laugh. “She basically told me to go kick rocks. But I didn’t feel bad for long because that night she got caught having sex on a cafeteria table with the guy who was the camp soccer coach. They both got fired. I wonder if she still went to Harvard. But Cale’s advice about taking a direct approach was still sound. Hell, I don’t need to tell you that. He got you to marry him somehow.”

I glance at Cale’s handsome profile. He keeps his eyes on the road.

“Your brother was indeed very direct about his intentions,” I tell Luca, thinking back to how I nearly choked on my saliva when Cale calmly proposed marriage on Christmas Eve.

“So tell me about this ranch of yours in Colorado,” says Luca. “Do I get an invitation to visit?”

“Anytime,” I say and then I start telling him all about Bright Hearts.

Luca isn’t faking his interest. He listens intently and asks a few questions of his own. I’m careful to leave out the ranch’s past financial struggles and how they’ve been overcome. Luca is far from stupid. Too much information might lead him to connect a few dots that should stay unconnected.

But I have plenty to talk about without mentioning money. Luca is downright charmed to hear the story of how Cale rescued Tinkerbell and her puppies.

“And then I told him he was my hero,” I say. “He even blushed.”

“I didn’t blush,” Cale mutters.

---